Friday, September 18, 2009

Democratic Process Influenced By Failure of Journalism

This is a continuation of this post. I could have included all this info in the same post, but the more posts you make, the more hits you get on your blog. And the more hits you get on your blog, the more likely you are to win the lottery. Why do you think people write such drivel on blogs?

(Note to bloggers: just kidding. Just trying to entertain the masses.)

(Note 2.0 to bloggers: don't write drivel.)

So, everyone likes to make fun of the media, and for good reason---many media outlets are terrible. In Annapolis, we have the misfortune of having only one major newspaper, The Capital, which is particularly infamous for inaccuracy. This blog named itself to point out the shortcomings of the newspaper. The bumper sticker "End Capital Punishment, Cancel Your Subscription" serves the same purpose. On the rare occasions in my life when I have spoken with people important enough to have their names/stories told in The Capital, I've heard horror stories of quotes that began as "Mrs. Politics is a great girlfriend" and ended as "Mayor Moyer kicked me in the rear end".

The Capital totally missed this story. The Post and The Sun missed it too, but they have an excuse because they actually have other real stories to write about. The Capital should have uncovered this long ago. I would have uncovered it myself, buy my legal team advises me that the farther away I stay from the court system, the better.

Imagine how different the campaign would have been if Zina's legal history was reported a year ago when she entered the race. Sam Shropshire, a sitting alderman, is facing highly publicized legal troubles....and he received 9 votes. NINE. VOTES. Before this campaign, Zina Pierre had no name recognition in this town. If somebody that nobody knows was labeled as having such problems, would their campaign have even gotten off the ground? Probably not. Instead of (essentially) a 3-person race, would it have been Josh vs Trudy? Who knows what the outcome would have been?

As it is, the media missed the story, Zina was elected, and now has withdrawn. The Democrat central committee gets to pick the replacement. Cohen certainly has to be a front runner. Will McFall lobby for the nomination? I would. One can't help but think that if the media did its job, she might not have had this burden.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

It will be very interesting to see how this unfolds.

Will we hear nothing from Zina? I would be surprised by that.

Will she come out and indicate that there was pressure to step down? Her embarrassment could quickly turn to anger and revenge, as her supporters rally around her. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Zina write-in campaign.

What's on the Maryland Judiciary Case Search certainly isn't acceptable. But, much worse than that hasn't stopped other politicians. Take a look at Marion Barry. It's not like Zina was caught smoking dope in some hotel room. She has financial troubles. In today's economic climate, a lot of people are probably willing to give her a pass on that.

The last time the Annapolis Democrat Central Committee appointed a candidate, we got Sam Shropshire. I can't imagine Cohen would want to rise to the nomination through that process. The ADCC isn't some sort of independent group. They're a tool of the Moyer administration. I can't imagine them appointing anyone other than Cohen. But, if they do, his political career will be irrevocably tainted.